Project Titan

Apple famously has a car department, codenamed “Project Titan,” but the company has never confirmed that it is in fact working on an electric car or self-driving software.

Apple has recently focused its attention on self-driving car software instead of on the manufacturing processes that would go into making its own car, according to a slew of reports.

But Apple’s core corporate strengths are design, supply chain management, and manufacturing processes, all of which lend strength to the argument that if Apple were to make a car, it would design both the hardware and software, as it does for the iPhone.

An investment or purchase in McLaren would give Apple an injection of racing technology, as well as a team of automotive-focused engineers. McLaren also owns several valuable patents, especially for high-tech materials such as carbon fiber and aluminum. It does manufacturing research and studies materials in its McLaren Applied Technologies group.

McLaren also does substantial work with sensors and data in a department called McLaren Electronic Systems. For example, the company compares real-time data collected during races with historical data, which means that it can solve several problems with dealing with the flood of data that a connected car can generate.

One of the challenges Apple’s car project faces is dealing with and analyzing the flood of data generated by its sensor-laden vehicles currently driving around California. Those vehicles can produce 2 GB of data per mile.

Apple has already invested in a transportation company. It invested $1 billion earlier this year in Didi Chuxing, a Chinese ride-hailing company.

“From a Didi point of view, we see that as, one, a great financial investment. Two, we think that there are some strategic things that the companies can do together over time,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in July.